Coolest Toy I've Bought in a Long Time
Written: Jul 11 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Harmless! Fun! Never Runs out of Ammo!
Cons: A little loud. Works best indoors.
The Bottom Line: Super fun. Totally safe. A little loud. Takes some strength.
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| Andyman's Full Review: Airzooka |
The Airzooka is a vortex cannon. It propels a small, tight, invisible ball of rapidly spinning air, with a range of "over 20 feet," according to the packaging.
I was intrigued by this description, but not convinced that it would really be worth the $20. I'm really glad now that I went ahead and bought one. What fun this thing is!
Basically, it's a large plastic tube (maybe a foot in diameter) with an elastic-bound plastic sheet over the rear, and a gun-like handle on the bottom.
How Does it Work?
Pull the plastic sheet back, and the interior fills with air. Release, and the elastic-loaded sheet pushes the air out the front of the cone.
The reason this doesn't just blow a puff of air is that small shelf the air encounters as it leaves the hole in the front. As the plunger is released, the mass of air inside the Airzooka move forward. The center of this airmass exits the Airzooka cleanly, through the hole. But the outer layers of this airmass encounter a small "shelf" as they leave the hole. This slows the outside of the airmass down, causing it to spin inward on itself.
See a diagram of how this works here:
http://www.amasci.com/wing/smring.html
Sure, but is it Cool?
Totally! Physics aside, this thing is tons of fun! The ball of air it shoots is surprisingly small and tight, not to mention fast moving. When it hits something, you can hear a little "slap" from the fast moving air hitting resistance. There's very little delay between firing and impact, too. Release the plunger and almost immediately, your target jumps, even if it's on the other side of the room. It's hard to say what the maximum range is, since the further away you are, the easier it is to miss. Wind and air turbulence will nullify your shot, too, so don't expect it to work outside.
How much force?
Not much. The tightness of the air ball makes the impact sound and feel more like a "slap" than a "whoosh" of air. It's not really comparable to having a fan blown at you. It's a more sudden and concentrated force than that. Fire it at someone's head, and it will bat their eyelashes and make their hair jump. Fire it at a houseplant and the leaves will rattle. Fire it at the curtains and you'll see a circle of impact, as if someone had slapped the curtain lightly with a hand.
But it doesn't hurt. Not at all. If you were to fire it at a cat or dog, they probably wouldn't like it. And it might make a mess of a stack of papers, or knock over a mostly-empty soda can. But it's not going to hurt anyone. Mostly it's just kind of surprising. It feels so unusual, that if you're able to hit someone when they're not expecting it, you'll probably get a good jump out of them. But if you're actually expecting it, it feels neat. When I first started playing with it, I wanted to shoot it. But almost immediately, I wanted someone to shoot me, to see what it felt like.
Drawbacks:
LOUD: The sheet covering the rear, which draws in the air, is a hard, durable plastic sheet. When you release the plunger and it snaps forward, this plastic makes a loud snapping sound. This is part of the fun, in that it kinda sounds like a gun firing, right before the air ball strikes. But I can imagine it getting annoying awfully quick.
BIG: It's larger than it looks in the picture. It's easily a foot in diameter, and a little longer than a foot. It might be a little big for small children to handle.
ARM STRENGTH: You've also got to have some strength in your arm to pull the elastic back. It's not that easy to hold the gun steady while pulling back on the plunger. Again, I'd say little children will have problems.
ASSEMBLY:
Although I've ultimately found the construction to be sturdy enough, the assembly was a little awkward. The Airzooka is more or less 100% plastic, which meant a lot of inserting tabs into slots, and flexing plastic pieces together. I would expect a child to need help putting it together, as sometimes it feels like you need more than two hands to get it done.
Durability:
The Airzooka is pretty solid. But I can already tell that the plastic sheet on the back is eventually going to go. It takes a fair amount of abuse during firing, and it's just plastic sheeting after all. It can be cut or torn with a sharp object, or too-curious fingers. I've found the sheeting to be a little frayed already around the outside edges (but only because I took the whole thing apart to study it - don't do this unless you're prepared to ruin the toy). I'm considering replacing the plastic sheet with some tight-weave fabric. Maybe windbreaker material, which would not only be more durable, but quieter. The good news is that the sheet looks not too difficult to replace, as long as you have heavy-duty, non-stretching plastic sheeting available (like tarp material), or something else that's thin, airtight, and won't stretch.
Age Range:
Airzooka is recommended for kids 6 and up. I'd say this is a little liberal. Not all 6 year olds will have the strength necessary to operate it. Also, since it's basically a toy that's OK to fire at people, a 6 year old might go overboard. It is a fun toy, but don't buy it for your 6 year old unless you're willing to let them run free, shoot you, make a bunch of noise, scare the baby with it, etc. It's a toy that should be given as a gift only with careful judgment. Remember, they work best indoors, so don't expect to just say "use it in the back yard."
Hopefully your child (or maybe you) are responsible enough to enjoy this toy to the fullest. I found mine on eBay. They seem to be a little scarce right now, but check eBay, and you should be able to get one for under $20. Good luck!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 15
Type of Toy: Other
Age Range of Child: 9 Years or Older
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Andyman
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Member: Andy Hilal
Location: Oakland, CA
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